Life church on the attack

Last Saturday, there was a crazy attack on the building. Before I could even get there, there were people inside and outside the building starting this renovation. There has been such an overwhelming response by believers who are being stirred to get their hands dirty and engage in the lives of those in the inner city.

There have been numerous churches gathering together which is super awesome. It is so neat to see just believers united working together to expand the kingdom. My new friend in Murrieta said it so well quoting Psalms 133:1-2

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes.

It was so neat to see how God was using the 80 or so people who showed up. There were people painting and ripping up floors. There were electricians and plumbers hard at work fixing worn parts of the building. While there were those with the construction side, there were tons of people passing out food. We ended up feeding 100’s of people both breakfast and lunch.

Following all of the work I was able to share with the people all that God has been doing and is preparing to do in the city. I believe that He is mounting up something huge. For you see, I am hearing this same story in so many lives of people who are just wanting to forsake this kingdom and start pursuing His kingdom. I can’t wait to keep you all in the loop as things continue to unfold right before our eyes.

News Interview with Channel 9

If you have been following this story that the LORD is unfolding right before our eyes, the news has been spreading about this stuff going on in the inner city. I am telling you, God is stirring up the waters here and it is getting big.

On Thursday, I got a call from Channel 9 news here in Oklahoma City. It was a reporter who wanted to see if she could do a story of what we are doing in the inner city. It was so cool because I knew that this was God just showing up in a big way sharing with the city what He is doing.

The reporter told me that she would want to spend about 30 minutes to do the story. After being their about 2 hours, she was just totally blown away. It was so fun just meeting her and the camera man.

It was so funny to see it aired that night. I guess it runs on another channel throughout the night till 6am the next morning. With that said, there were so many people who have been saying, “there is that guy that was on the news.” What was crazy was that they said the name of the ministry and put my phone number on the TV. My phone rang all day starting at 8am. It was so neat because several people who called just felt that the LORD put it on their heart to call. It was so neat to hear why they had called.

One guy named Frank had been reading Haggai about 2 months ago…and he said since over the last few months he has really been getting stirred to live out Christ. I am going to be meeting him this week and can’t wait to see what God does with this relationship.

It was additionally awesome to hear numerous churches who have been calling, or I had met Saturday morning, who also had been down there feeding the homeless and also saw the news that morning. The part of hearing the hearts of the churches is cool because I am seeing exactly my role here. To unite churches/believers from the north, south, east, and west to fulfill the great commission without the boarders of church walls. Getting the body to this common unity in Christ Jesus. Bringing everyone back to their first love…Jesus.

I will try to to attatch a link of the channel 9 news interview soon.

Warriors Wanted!

We are looking for a few warriors who are wanting to enter the front lines of discipleship. Our goal is to move in those who want to disciple others right next door. There have been a few people who have come up to us and said that they would like to move in and live next to those who are wanting to transition. As we began praying through this, it was totally awesome to see how when Jesus discipled, He did it by doing life with them. If you are interested in moving in, possibly with a roommate, please feel free to contact me any time. Those of interest should be extraordinarily missional minded and have a complete servants heart and utterly in love with Jesus and your neighbor. Bless you as you pray about this.

Praise Report

There has been a plumber who has gotten involved and is wanting to help re-plumb the whole building. This guy is amazing. We are now in prayer for His provision with the supplies. Please be in prayer as we continue to see how God provides for this work that He is establishing.

Two new churches have gotten involved.

Last Saturday, two churches came together to renovate 2 rooms. In about an hour they had begun painting and ripping up flooring. It was so exciting to see this go down. They filled this field next to us that we have been praying would become a parking lot for the building. This same group is coming back for the next 3 Saturdays.

With this group of about 40 – 50 people, I was able to give them 2 separate tours of the building. It is so neat to see how God is using this rugged building to inspire so many to leave their comforts and reach out to those in need.

He is adding to the church daily

I am not sure what all of this means, but it seems like the Refuge is picking up speed. There has been an ever increasing demand for this building as many groups have been wanting to come and use the building.

So far here is what is going on:

• Sundays: Open for now
• Monday: A group has reserved the room for a prayer night for a discipleship group who has been meeting for a year or so. They are concluding their year long deal with prayer in the inner city.
• Tuesday: Open for now
• Wednesday: A couple of Wednesdays a month, there are several house churches who are using it for prayer, worship, or feeding the homeless. Last week, a new group came down to BBQ. They asked if they had enough. I said, you will never have enough. I was right and so they went and got more. It was neat to see God use them. This was spurred by someone driving a couple of weeks ago under the freeway and wanting to do this.
• Thursdays: A college groups is praying about using this as their place of venue for prayer, worship, and the teaching of God’s Word. Can’t wait to see what God does with this “Joshua Generation”
• Fridays: A group is using it every other Friday night. They have been meeting for a while rotating nights of prayer/worship and the other week in the study of God’s Word. The Refuge is going to give them an outlet to apply what they have been waiting for. This is a great group. Last time they were there, they were praying and worshipping until about 1am. Pretty fun to watch. Especially, with the building just a few months ago being a crack house/prostitution house.
• Saturdays: These have been regular work days and is now a Bible study night. A Spanish pastor from Los Angeles (Jose who has been here for about a year) has been leading this group in worship, prayer, and feeding the hungry.
• Sundays: This day is still open for now

My desire is that this building be used every day by those who want to fulfill the great commission. I can’t wait to see all the disciples that get won on this street.

Work Day # ??

I think that every Saturday is now a “work day”! Kinda funny.

This weekend a good sized group of people came out and started to “upgrade” two of our limited-budget remodeled rooms. They were a wonderful group. The plan is to complete these two rooms over the rest of this month. Then we will have an idea of what materials will be needed and approximately what it will cost to upgrade each of the other rooms. Then other groups or churches or families can sort of adopt a room and see it through completion and then minister to the occupant(s) in the future. We shall see if this comes to pass!

Leanne

We have filed for church status

Today, with the help of a great friend and fellow warrior, we filed the papers to establish a church.  What is so funny is that when Leanne and I moved here, that was not our intent.  But what has become more than evident that with the discipleship there is something that is in the works that looks like a church assembly of some sort.  I guess the pews were a small indicator that this was coming.

Construction Mission team from California came out

This weekend was wonderful. A work team from California came out to help with some construction on the building. We had a great time hanging out, working, and praying together. The time together was much too short though! We wish that we could have spent weeks with the team. Despite only being able to hang out for a short time we were still deeply refreshed.

The team of six (Jeremy, Chris, Tom, Glen, Jason, Jeremiah) accomplished SO much! We really can’t believe how many projects they completed. They…

• put trim up on all the doors in the first half of the livable space…inside and out.
• patched many holes in the hallway and rooms.
• completely gutted and reconstructed the downstairs bathroom…a HUGE project.
• Attempted power-washing the downstairs floor…but there are some plumbing problems so there was not enough water pressure!
• replaced a bunch of “things” on the donated work-truck.
• fixed a ton of leaks and plumbing problems.
• fixed and put together the rest of the donated pews.

They probably did more than all this, but I wasn’t around for everything. Can you believe that they did all these things in two days? TWO DAYS! It was amazing!

Thank you again for everything, guys. What a blessing.

Leanne

another church joins in the work

as many of you have heard, there has been such a wonderful response by all the churches in the area. today, was a great day, as another church with a heart of service has extended themselves in such a big way. they have such a wonderful desire to come along side of us and help fulfill the vision that God has given us. i have a feeling that something big is getting ready.

tim